Masculine Card

A simple layout using some of the Graphic 45 "A Proper Gentleman" paper.

Embossed Oval Card

I used my Cricut and George cartridge to cut an oval from white cardstock that fit into the embossing folder.  The interior oval matches the large oval punch from Stampin' Up so I used it to do a "fussy cut" for the center.

I lightly inked the edges of the oval as well as the sentiment banner.

You Make Life Sweet

It's Memorial Day and we are keeping Cooper, our 22 month old grandson.  He's finally down for his afternoon nap and I ducked back here to make some cards.  It's almost the end of the month and my box for Operation Write Home isn't full yet!  Where did May go?

I saw a card with some strawberries and this sentiment and decided that it would be a great card for OWH.

The strawberries are from Sweet Shop and the gridwork is from Hannah Montana. They were resized and cut with Make the Cut on my Cameo.  The sentiment was printed on my computer.

The strawberries are pop dotted for dimension and I added some inking and pen work to break up the large white background.

Using large printed paper

By doing some careful cutting, I was able to get several cards from some sheets with large designs.

A simple digital sentiment and some flowers made a quick, pretty card.

Camera Card

My friend, Carrie Elmore, found a card kit at Archiver's and made some cards like this one.  Since we have no Archiver's in Oklahoma, I resorted to online images to make mine.

I love the funny face the woman's making in the photo.

Bingo Card

This card was seen on Splitcoaststampers.com.  I believe it was done by mom2n2.

The bingo card is clip art.  I resized and printed it as well as the sentiment using Hallmark software.  The border is from Accent Essentials, cut on my Cameo.

Beautiful Butterfly Card

This card utilizes another sheet of paper with a design on it that was just too large for an A2 card.  By doing some creative cutting and adding some stamps, I was able to use the paper and not let it go to waste.

Fussy Cut Card

Almost every stack of paper that I buy has sheets in it with images that are too big to use for A2 sized cards.
Sometimes I can use portions of those pages by doing what's called a fussy cut.

The roses on this paper were spaced so far apart that they wouldn't look right as a card background, so I just cut them out individually to use as accents. 

Stars and Heart Card

The stars were sized and cut with my Cameo and topped with a clip art heart.  I wrapped a border made with an EK Success punch with some baker's twine and added some pen work and a stamped sentiment.

Yee Haw Card

I used an image from the Yee Haw Cricut cartridge on this card.  The edges of the stars are inked and I pop dotted the two smaller stars and the words.

Just Chillin' Again

A while back I posted a card with this cat image on it.  Today I saw this sentiment online and knew the cat would be perfect to go with it!

Two Good Broccoli Recipes

I saw this first recipe on Pinterest and prepared it for our dinner tonight.  I liked it but it only rated an "it's okay" from DH--which means he'll eat it but it's not something he's ever going to ask me to make. I would have liked more cheddar cheese than just the 1/2 cup in the recipe.

 

 CHEESY ROASTED BROCCOLI PATTIES

Ingredients
2 teaspoons vegetable oil -
2 cloves garlic - minced
½ onion - chopped
1  (12 ounce) bag frozen broccoli - defrosted  (I used broccoli spears and chopped into large chunks)
¾  cup panko breadcumbs -
½  cup sharp cheddar cheese -
⅓  cup parmesan cheese -
2  eggs - beaten
 salt/pepper -

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.

Heat the oil in a small pan over medium heat. Add in the garlic and onions. Season with salt/pepper to taste. Saute until onions are garlic are tender. Set aside to cool.

Add the broccoli to a kitchen towel. Wrap the towel around the broccoli and squeeze out the extra moisture.

 Pour the drained broccoli into a large bowl.
To the same bowl, add the panko, the cheeses, eggs, and salt/pepper to taste 

Form into patties. Place on the prepared baking sheet..
Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Flip and bake for another 15 or until browned and crispy.

**********************************************************************************

This next recipe is one of my all time favorites for broccoli.  I've never tried to cut it down and it makes so much there's no way just the two of us could eat it all so it's a company dish.

ELEGANT BROCCOLI

1 package corn bread stuffing mix
   (Stove Top works well)
2 10 ounce packages frozen broccoli spears, thawed
2 T. butter
2 T. flour
1 tsp. Chicken bouillon granules
¾ cup milk
3 oz. Package of cream cheese, softened
¼ tsp. Salt
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
4 green onions, chopped
Paprika

Prepare stuffing according to package directions.

Spoon stuffing around the edges of a lightly buttered
13 x 9 baking dish, leaving a well in the center.

Arrange broccoli spears in well; set aside.

Melt butter in a small saucepan; add flour, stirring until
smooth   Cook 1 minutes, stirring constantly.  Stir in
bouillon granules and gradually add milk; cook over
medium heat, stirring constantly until thick and bubbly.

Add cream cheese and salt, stirring until smooth.
Stir in chopped onions and spoon this mixture over
the center of the broccoli; sprinkle with grated cheese
and garnish with paprika.

Cover with foil and bake at 350° for 35 minutes.
Remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes.
Serves

30 Minute Card

I haven't put up a 30 Minute Card in a while.  Just some simple rectangles, a sentiment and some added buttons for texture.

Seaside card

Original design by Betty Saccocia

I picked up this set of stamps a couple of years ago and had never seen a good use for them until today when I noticed a card on Pinterest.

Dinner In A Hurry

Boxed dinners such as Hamburger Helper are not something I purchase or feed to DH.  Neither of us has ever eaten a type of Hamburger Helper that we liked since they add so much sugar to them.  Other brands of boxed dinners are just not worth the price.  I can make them cheaper from scratch with better ingredients.

When Kraft came out with their Velveeta Cheesy Skillets dinner kits, the local stores ran them for only $1 a box.  I picked up a couple to see how they compared to the other boxed mixes I'd tried over the years. I found was their Ultimate Cheeseburger Mac dinner kit will put dinner on the table any time you're in a hurry.

The first time I fixed it, we decided it was just "okay" but pretty bland.  Since I'd bought a couple of boxes, I decided to see what I could do to make it more palatable.


  We like it if I "doctor" it up just a tiny bit.  We both like spicy foods so I experimented and finally determined that putting a partially drained can of mild Ro-tel tomatoes in with the ingredients from the box makes a great cheeseburger soup!






For the two of us, I use 3/4 pound of ground beef, follow the instructions on the back of the box and just add the Ro-tel tomatoes while the pasta is cooking.  I suppose you could just add the undrained can of  Ro-tels if you really enjoy the juice.  Regular Ro-tels make it too hot for me to enjoy.

From start to finish, it takes only about 20 minutes to have a hearty dish for dinner. 

Using Border Strips

The border print pages in the stacks I buy tend to get passed over and never used.  This is one way I can cut the strips apart and get some good use from them.

Shadow Leaves Card

Inspired by a card done by Leonie Schoder, a Stampin' Up demonstrator from Australia: Stamp A Latte is her blog.

Using Make The Cut and my Cameo I cut a mask to use for the inked background.

I positioned the mask over the background cardstock and inked it with Memento Bamboo Leaves ink.  Then I stamped one leaf with Memento Rich Cocoa and one with the Bamboo Leaves on top of the background and added a sentiment stamp.

Wine Group Tonight

Several years ago I gathered some friends and began to host a wine group each month.  It's been so much fun to host the event!  It gives us a chance to catch up, share some good food and taste different types of wines.  

I choose a theme and decorate the table and plan the food around that.  My sister's hosting tonight at her house.  She chose an Americana theme for the table with tons of red, white and blue decorations.  However, somewhere, our menu went "South" literally and we're having Tex-Mex food! 

Oklahoma has a number of wineries.  As a matter of fact, there are four within 30 miles of our house.  Tonight's group will be tasting four wines from Oklahoma as well as some wine-a-ritas.  I thought the wine-a-ritas would be appropriate with our food.

I have the wines we'll be tasting in the fridge chilling, my contribution to the meal ready to go and got out my wine glass that I embellished with vinyl.  Of course, I had to use the wine charm that Shirley, aka Okieladybug, included in our goodie bags at her Christmas party.  They're really handy when you're in a group so you always know which glass is yours.

I made each of the ladies in the wine group one of these as their favor at our last meeting. They thought they were so cute, that we decided to make them the official glass for our meeting. 

The weather's beautiful, I have everything ready to take tonight and unless something breaks or goes wrong, I'm pretty sure I can use the "easy day" measure on my glass tonight.

Graphic 45 Cards

These were done with Graphic 45 "A Proper Gentleman" papers.  Shirley found them at Tuesday Morning and lugged them all the way home from her vacation in Florida.

I love the vintage images that Graphic 45 uses.  Sometimes it's difficult to come up with an idea to use the old advertising images.  These turned out great for masculine cards.

Birthday Card With Presents

Inspired by a card seen online

I prefer the second one with the narrow boxes and the bows on top.

Scalloped Circle Butterfly Card

I used an idea that Shirley, aka Okieladybug, posted on her blog to make this card.  She used extra layers and did more detail work on hers.  I can't make my cards too thick since they have to go easily through postal machines for Operation Write Home use.

She keeps telling me that all papers in a stack coordinate.  So, I grabbed a stack and put these together.  I'm still not sure her theory is correct! LOL!  But, since these have a butterfly and pen work, I like the way they turned out.

Butterfly Postcard Stamp Card

This is the card I was working on when my best laid plans went totally South.  The We R Memory Keepers punch jammed, AGAIN, and it took at least 10 minutes for Fred and me to get it to release the paper trapped inside.

Once it was unjammed, I was able to punch enough border strips to complete the series of cards I had laid out.  When I picked up my bottle of Scotch Quick Dry adhesive to attach the borders, the side split and glue gushed down the side of the bottle.

By that time, I was in no humor to finish these!  I cleaned up my mess and quit for the night.  Some days it just doesn't pay to make a plan! LOL!

So, I've placed We R Memory Keepers punches on my "don't buy any more of these" list.  They're marginally better than the mediocre quality Martha Stewart punches I own and they cost quite a bit more than the MS ones.

 The only reason I have the WRMK punches is because I got carried away watching a presentation on HSN during a scrapbooking show.  Silly me, I signed up for an auto-ship program and am scheduled to receive three more shipments.
 ***note to self:  CALL HSN AND GET THOSE STOPPED!***

The stamp I used is one that I found at And Bear Makes 3 in Moore.  It may be a Hero Art image.  I don't keep the packaging so I never know for sure where these things come from once they're in my catalog and stored in the stamp cases.

My version of a card by Vicki Bridges

The image was stamped on light pink cardstock, then distressed with Tim Holtz inks.  I used a corner rounder to soften the edges and then tore off one corner and inked the edges.

Stacked Hearts Card

Last fall I saw a card with these ticket stamps on it and some layered hearts.  The stamp is from Close to My Heart and it coordinates with a Cricut cartridge.  Rather than mess with using my Expression, since I'm so accustomed to my Cameo now, I just cut them out by hand.

The hearts were sized and cut with my Cameo and Make The Cut software.  The tiny heart was punched.  The concho is a clip art image.

I pop dotted the hearts and concho for dimension.

Remember Magic Mesh?

Several years ago, Magic Mesh was all the rage for scrapbooking and card making.  Like most trends, it died out.  I remember picking up 12 x 12 sheets of it at the LSS in their clearance basket.  It got tucked away with (ahem!) some other embellishments and forgotten.

Today I drove to Ada to meet with Okieladybug and go to a sale at Scraptopia.  While at her house, I was admiring some cards she'd worked on last week.  She'd used Magic Mesh on one.  I told her I'd forgotten all about even having it to use!

After putting away the supplies I bought at the LSS sale, I settled down to make some cards for Operation Write Home.  While scrolling through my ideas folder, I ran across a card with this sentiment and immediately decided to use it and some of the flowers Okieladybug and I had ordered last month.

Of course, if you follow my blog, you know I put butterflies on everything I can work them into! So I decided to arrange the flowers with a pair of small butterflies flying away from them. 

That's when I remembered the Magic Mesh, got it out and added it onto the card front.  It may not be really visible in the photos, but it added a lot of dimension to the card.

So, look around and see what you have tucked away in your supply stash too!

A Cherry Hello

A simple stamped and colored image and some white gel pen stitching.

I Cherish You Card

Based on a card from Okieladybug's blog.  The stamp is a Studio G colored with Promarkers..  I used MTC software to cut the letters and shadows as well as the scalloped oval.  The border is a Martha Stewart punch; the button brad is a Paper Studio piece. I added some pen work to break up the solid green areas.

Birdcage Card

Carrie Elmore posted a card similar to this on Facebook.  I believe the one she posted was part of a kit from Archivers.  I liked the birdcage idea so I adapted it for the stamp I had on hand.

The round silver sentiment is from a batch that was sent to me by Enfys Cashmore, a Facebook friend who lived in the UK.

Laughter Card

Inspired by a card seen online a long time ago, I used Falstaff Festival and Bethscute HMK Bold fonts for the lettering.

Remember those "shaped" scissors everyone had to have about 5 years ago?  I dug a pair of mine out to cut the edges of the sentiment. 

Yellow Butterflies

The butterflies were cut with Make The Cut software, shadowed with the same blue as the card front.  The large stamped image is a Hero Art stamp.

Crockpot chicken recipe

I came up with this recipe this afternoon when trying to decide what to do with another meal planned around chicken breasts.  It turned out really quite good.  The Smart Chicken breasts are usually large enough that you could feed four people with just two of them.  We cut ours in half and will enjoy the leftovers for lunch this week.

Crockpot Chicken With Celery and Onions
2 ribs of celery, chopped
½ cup finely chopped onion
2 boneless Smart Chicken breasts
1 can Cream of Celery soup
¼-1/2 tsp. Poultry seasoning
¼-1/2 tsp. Celery seed
Cooked rice

Brown both sided of the chicken breasts in a hot pan.
Place the chopped onion and celery in the bottom of a crockpot.
Put the chicken breasts on top of the vegetables.

Mix the soup with the poultry seasoning and celery seed.
Pour over chicken and vegetables.

Cook on high 2-3 hours or until chicken is done.

Serve over rice